Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I thought I’d have some time for Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery, but it didn’t work out exactly how I thought so I’m still on hold with this one. I made a little progress through Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier but I’m still on the second chapter. It’s really long with is discouraging but I’ll keep moving! I made good progress in The Night Watch by Sarah Waters and I’m optimistic that I’ll finish it by next week. I’m liking the time jumps and look forward to seeing how this wraps up! I reached the first stopping point of The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and I’m waiting for my Reading Buddy to wrap up so we can chat about it. So far I really like the writing and pacing. This will be a great one for a Buddy Read! I received my copy of No Man’s Land by Becky Jensen and immediately jumped in. This has been great so far. It is well written and reminds me of other books I’ve read and enjoyed before. I hope to finish it soon but I have a few weeks left before the review is due.
Recently finished: Nothing finished this week. I was able to post a review so now I’m only four behind. If you want to read more of my thoughts on It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, please drop a comment and let me know what you think. I’m hoping to find a copy of the movie to enjoy soon.
Reading next: I’m guessing an audiobook will be my next up. I’m going to go with Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I’ve heard good things about this series so I’m excited to jump in. The audiobook version I found is a dramatized reading so it has a full cast. I’m excited for that experience!
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
This is the second of two books I grabbed at the library’s used book sale to take on vacation. I love taking a book on vacation that I plan to leave behind. Shedding something while traveling feels very freeing! I was lucky that my resort had a communal bookshelf so this got left behind for someone else to enjoy on the beach.
Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.
Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.
As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.
I don’t read a lot of romances so this was a bit of a stretch for me. I’d seen a clip from the movie on an Instagram reel and thought the monologue was really powerful so I decided to pick it up. I’d seen a bit of a spoiler, however, because the scene was from the very end of the novel and was word-for-word what Lily said. This was a good beach read. The plot was easy to follow and the story flowed well, even when interrupted by dips in the ocean or breaks to grab another drink. I’ll have to remember this for any other vacations I take.
I thought Hoover drew some pretty credible characters without getting too deep into most of them. Lily, Ryle, and Atlas got the most attention, as they should have. But the attention paid to Lily’s mom was wonderful. There was a cycle to what Lily was experiencing in her relationship and knowing how her mother had dealt with the same situation influenced Lily’s actions so I appreciated knowing what the previous pattern in her life had looked like.
Atlas was easy to like and easily my favorite character. I empathized for his situation as a teenager and appreciated what he did to survive. It was obvious he had to make hard decisions. I also appreciated how he reacted to Lily and how he gave her space when she needed it but spoke up without pushing. I thought it was well done how little he showed up in the book, but how much of an impact his character had.
I’m lucky I can say that I’ve never been in an abusive relationship like Lily. However, I’ve had relationships where I doubted the other person and wondered if the bad moments were a pattern or if the good moments made it worth it. So her questions to herself about forgiveness hit home. Can you excuse something once? How about twice? When is your personal tipping point? It’s going to be different for every person but finding that personal point is a big part of finding happiness in relationships.
Colleen Hoover. Image via Texas Highways Magazine
I thought the book wrapped up in a really satisfying way. Even though there was a lot to imagine, the threads of the story were all brought together and I left feeling very light after a book with a lot of very heavy moments.
Alyssa’s story was the hardest for me to read about. She was caught in a horrible position between Lily and Ryle and it felt impossible to me that she’d be able to make those decisions. Her life also seemed overly perfect in a way I couldn’t imagine. I understand having a character like her in the book so Lily has someone to talk to and confide in, but having her play double-duty as Ryle’s sister made me doubt almost everything she said.
The book addresses the very serious issue of abuse. I’m fortunate to say I’ve never experienced abuse in my family or relationships so I can’t comment on the portrayal in this novel. What I will say is that Hoover presented her story in a way that was clear she wasn’t representing something that all victims would identify with. She depicted different victims from different situations and helped show that there’s no single definition of abuse or a single way to classify abusers. Ryle and Lily’s father, Andrew, are drastically different people but both abusive in different ways. Atlas is a male victim of abuse, showing that this is an issue for all people, not just women. I appreciated the different angles she used to cover such a serious issue.
Writer’s Takeaway: Hoover did a great job of keeping a tight character list. Despite the novel’s length, the important characters were few and it allowed her to dive deeply into each one and share their personalities and full stories. Having recently finished a book with an unnecessarily long list of characters, I really appreciated a deep dive into a small cast who all had meaningful impacts on the plot.
This was a good beach read, but not really my cup of team. Three out of Five Stars.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I’ll be back to Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery soon, but not just yet. I saw this on a list of ‘funny’ books so maybe I’m thinking of it wrong and what’s frustrating me about it should be amusing me. I’ll have to approach it differently and see what changes. I finished the first chapter of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier but that feels like a small victory. I’m still working on how I can give my ebooks more attention. I had some good movement this week. I started a new audiobook with The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. I’m about a quarter of the way through and I feel like something big is going to happen soon so I’m waiting until then to pass judgement. I’ve finally started The God of the Woods by Liz Moore! I feel like it’s been on my bedside table for ages. I only started last night. My expectations are high, hopefully not too high.
Recently finished: I was able to power through and finish Kasia by Samuel Thawley with plenty of time to write my review by the deadline. I won’t be writing a full review here so I’m not further behind on that front. I gave the book Two out of Five Stars. I wrapped up my audiobook of Nice Girls Don’t Win by Parvarti Shallow which puts me yet another review book behind. I’ll be making an effort to catch up this week and next so I hope five behind is the most I’ll be for a while. I liked this well enough, but the ending took a bit of a different tone that I didn’t enjoy as much. I was also hoping for more about Parv’s time on Survivor, The Traitors, and some other shows I’m familiar with but those didn’t feature very strongly. I’ll go into it more with a review but for now I’m giving it Three out of Five Stars.
Reading next: I signed up for another book to review. I don’t often find titles that they’ll send in print so I’m taking advantage while I can! I’ll be getting a copy of No Man’s Land by Becky Jensen in the mail soon and plan to dive right in.
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I had a few nights that I got back to Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery before my attention shifted again. I’m still struggling with this book because there doesn’t seem to be a plot. It follows the women in the hotel, but I can’t tell to what end. I’ll get back to it later, but this one isn’t a priority right now. I didn’t make any progress in Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier this week. I’m starting to feel like I’m in a routine after a week back from vacation, but reading on my phone isn’t part of that process yet. I’ll see if I can figure it out. It took a while, but I finally got my copy of Kasia by Samuel Thawley in the mail and I’ve jumped right in! This is a longer one and I’m on a timeline so I’m hoping to focus on it and make some strong progress as fast as I can. I was able to start a new audiobook and I picked Nice Girls Don’t Win by Parvarti Shallow. Survivor 50 premiers TONIGHT and this book has been great for getting me excited about it. I know Parv doesn’t compete, but she talks about a lot of folks who will. This isn’t a long book and I expect it will be finished by next week.
Recently finished: I’m so happy to report that I finished A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin! I now share a lot of rage with fans who didn’t love the direction the show went. I hadn’t realized how much of the final few seasons was beyond the book until now and I have a bone or two to pick! I stayed up late over the weekend to finish Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and I absolutely loved it! I got this recommendation from AI and I’m thinking I’ll have to try that again soon. I wasn’t sure how it would go but what a winner. I’ve very behind on reviews now so please forgive me as I dig myself out while trying to focus on some personal projects that are a bit timely!
The one review I did finish was This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone which posted on Monday. I can see why some people loved this book, but it failed to land for me. I always read other reviews after I finish my own and I recognize I’m in the minority on my feelings for this one. I gave it Two out of Five Stars.
Reading next: I’m holding on to The God of the Woods by Liz Moore next. It’s on my bedside table and I plan to use it as a motivator to get through my review book before the deadline! I’m probably going to need a new audiobook before next week. My plan is to pick up The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. I’ve read Waters before and really enjoyed her work so I’m looking forward to this one!
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
I love reading on vacation. And I’m not a big e-reader so that means packing books. I went to the library’s used book sale and picked this up before my vacation earlier this month. I’d seen it around the blog world and I saw a review on the back from V.E. Schwab so I thought it was worth a try. I’m sorry to say this was just not for me. I can see how others enjoyed it, but I seriously struggled the whole way through.
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.
Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?
This was not the book I needed for my vacation. I started it while answering numerous questions from my kid while on the plane and it failed to grab my interest from there. Moving forward, I was reading on the beach and the start/stop pace kept me from being engrossed and instead taking frequent trips to the bar or dips into the water. I was constantly forgetting if Red or Blue was from Garden and failed to grasp the means of communication they were using. It went over my head and wasn’t the relaxing read I wanted or needed while half checked out on the beach.
A major issue I had was that Red and Blue didn’t seem unique. I would often forget who was talking or the backgrounds that came with either character and they seemed to melt into one being. I think that was part of the point- that they weren’t very different when you really looked at them. However, it made for a frustrating read and had me constantly checking the back cover to remember who was part plant and who was a robot (or at least, that’s how I thought of them).
I couldn’t tell you who I liked more because the two seem inseparable. There weren’t really other characters in the story, either. Each visits with their leader once, but that interaction seems like talking to a shadow or ghost more than a commander. Both operatives are very solitary people, as is appropriate with their jobs. There are scant mentions of other operatives but since they’re often in the field, they don’t interact much. The book really relied on the two soldiers so without distinctive personalities, there wasn’t a lot to latch onto.
The characters failed to evoke any empathy from me. Their futuristic work and missions were so far removed from anything I could imagine that I found myself struggling to picture the locations and logistics of their lives. This took away from me being able to think of them as empathetic beings in any way. I’m still confused what they were doing or how they expected their sides to ultimately ‘win’ the war they were fighting in. I imagine that they came from futures in alternate timelines and were fighting to make the past work in a way that only their future existed, but I had to seriously think about that after I finished the book. Maybe managing a needy child at the beginning of reading this was more of a detriment than I thought.
Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Image via Instagram
I liked the resolution to the novel, which means I’m about to spoil it in the rest of this paragraph so please skip down if you want to avoid that. As much as the book obviously had to do with time travel, it felt very linear for Red and Blue. I’d wondered how they perceived time and the chronology of their conversations because of their jobs. So when they finally used the technology to their advantage at the end, I appreciated the full-circle moment.
I was so lost at the beginning of this book. I’m not advocating for an info-dump, but the way the book started without any explanation of who Red and Blue were was a bit much for me. If I’d read the blurb on the back, that would have helped. I never do that, though, so I was confused. I think a book should be able to stand on its own without needing the reader to have a preconceived notion of what the book is about before page one.
I liked the underlying message of this book- only a faceless enemy is truly evil. Once Red and Blue got to know each other, once they asked questions and shared thoughts, they realized how alike they were and found common ground they could stand on. Only when groups are ‘othered’ do we see things as black and white as good/evil. Once there is a face to the other side with a name and its own being, it becomes much harder to dislike them in their entirety. I think this is very true in the current US political climate where there is strong polarization separating folks. Maybe we all need to find a new pen pal.
Writer’s Takeaway: In a book with two narrators written by two writers, I was shocked at how similar the voices were. I really wished for a stronger sense of self in the two characters which would have helped me differentiate between them, remember details about each, and stop referencing the back cover to remember who was who. I don’t know if this was a result of editing or co-writing, but it was a challenge to read the book as two separate parts since they blended together so much.
It may be a case of ‘wrong place, wrong time,’ but this book wasn’t for me. Two out of Five Stars.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: Hold on, this is a LONG post! I am so close to finishing A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin! I think it will easily be on my ‘finished’ list by next week. I’m sad that I’m coming to an end, though. It’s depressing to think there’s nothing more after this and might never be. I guess the show should give me some consolation, but it really doesn’t. I put Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery on hold for a while. It wasn’t holding my attention well so I’m going to focus on things that are. There was a lot of change this week so buckle up. I found a copy of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus at the hotel’s book exchange. Y’all, I’m loving this! It’s funny, it’s empowering, it’s awesome. I’m giving it as much time as I can before I take on a book for review. I also started Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier as an ebook. I’m struggling to get into this one so I expect a slow roll. I’ve struggled with this time period before so I won’t be surprised if I do again.
Recently finished: It was a great week for reading. The resort we were at watched our kids so we could relax and my partner and I both read more than two books. I was excited to finish The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. Reading on my phone was a great option when the littles needed to sleep and I was stuck in the room. I finished it just before the due date and I lost the hold which was an added bonus. Review is forthcoming and for now I’m giving this Three out of Five Stars for now but that might go up. I sped through This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone in the first two days of the trip. This was not for me. I couldn’t keep the two characters straight and I really struggled with the imagery and what was physically happening. I can see how others might love it, but I’ll pass. I’m giving it Two out of Five Stars. I was glad I packed It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. I sped through this one as well! This was a great beach read, perfect for where I was. It was a fast read, but I’m not a big fan of romances and this just felt a bit one-dimensional to me. I’m giving it Three out of Five Stars. Many reviews to come!
Reading next: I’ve got a few things coming. Most quickly approaching is a book for review that I committed to. I’m waiting for my copy of Kasia by Samuel Thawley to come in the mail so I can jump on it. This looks like a long one so I’ll be tactfully avoiding my family to finish in time! My Ready Buddy and I are planning to start up again, too! We picked The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and we’ll start once I finish my review book. Talk about a few chunksters! I’ve got some heavy reading ahead. I’ll be starting a new audiobook soon, too! I bought a copy of Parvati Shallow’s Nice Girls Don’t Win. I’m a big Survivor fan and with Season 50 starting next week, jumping into a contestant’s memoir sounds like the perfect thing to get me in the right mindset.
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I’m writing this well in advance and scheduling it to post while I’m relaxing on a beach so these are my best guesses of where I’ll land. I have a chance of finishing A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin in the next week and a half and I’ll be excited and sad to finish it up. I’m losing hope that this series will ever be finished. I’m hoping to read some of The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah while we travel. It will be easier to grab this and put it away than it would be to have a physical book out. The littles will be very demanding of our time while we’re in transit. I haven’t finished Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery and decided not to bring it with me. I’ll wrap it up once I’m home, but hoping I can enjoy the books I brought with me more! Thank you all so much for voting for what I should pack! I went with This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone based on your recommendations. By the time you’re reading this, I’ll have started it.
Recently finished: Nothing again this week though I’m optimistic about adding something next week!
Reading next: I couldn’t help it and I brought It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover with me as well. Maybe I’ll need it, maybe I won’t. It’s here if I need it!
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.
Currently reading: I have less than ten hours left in A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin. I know that seems like eternity, but it’s almost 2/3 done! I’ve probably got two more weeks with this one before I wrap it up. I’ve had a few sleepless nights where The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah has been my savior. I’m hoping I can make some headway with this one next week but I don’t think I’ll be finishing it, unfortunately. I’ve struggled with Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery because it’s really not grabbing me. It’s a lot of internal dialogue from a few of the characters and I’m just not that interested. I’ll finish it, but I’m not going to rush to the end.
Recently finished: Nothing new this week, but I was able to post my review for The House In the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune earlier this week. It wasn’t a hit for me and I’ve given it Three out of Five Stars.
Reading next: I’m torn and I need your help! I got two books at the library’s used book sale and I’m trying to decide if I take one or both on vacation. I’m leaning toward one but I can’t pick! I grabbed It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover and This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Help me decide!
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
This was a book that felt like it was everywhere a few years ago when I was buried under my TBR and felt like I’d never get out. With some breathing room, I decided to add it to by list and got a copy from the library to enjoy. I can see why others liked it, but unfortunately this one wasn’t a huge win for me.
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.
But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.
This book reminded me of a lot of other things I’ve read. There was some Douglas Adams-style humor that I did enjoy. It also felt a bit like Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children which was a mixed bag for me. Add in a little Good Omens and I think you have a full recipe. With all of these together, it didn’t give me as much originality as I would have liked. The characters were cute, but it felt like nothing much happened in the middle of the book. The beginning was fun and interesting as I learned about DICOMY and Linus. And the end was fun when Arthur comes into his own. But the middle? It was a slow opening of Linus’s eyes and it felt slower than it could have been.
Part of the appeal of the characters is now incredible they are. We don’t live in a world with gnomes and wyverns, especially youthful ones. It was a fun alternate universe that was still fraught with the distrust and bias we’re familiar with. Seeing these unbelievable people coexisting with a typical human and how they reacted to each other recalled a lot of ‘othering’ and bias we see in our world today.
Arthur was an amazing character and carried the story for me. He was incredibly kind and it was obvious there was more to him than the reader was being told. I kept wanting to find out more and pushed forward to see what secrets would be revealed. I appreciated that he admitted to and showed faults in how he sheltered the children. His care is obvious, but it was very obvious that he’d been a bit overzealous.
I’d like to think I’ve had moments of realization or a slow eye-opening like Linus experiences in this book. I hope that there isn’t an area of my life where I think I’m being helpful but am actually causing more problems. I hope there’s a prejudice I’ve been able to recognize and think differently about after being exposed to new information. I also hope it’s not just me, and we can all have moments and times of discovery like Linus.
T.J. Klune Image via Wikipedia
I was so intrigued at the world Klune built that the beginning of the book was my favorite part. I appreciated the lack of info-dumping about the makeup of the world this book inhabits. I liked learning slowly about the government and people and seeing how everyone interacted. It was like the author trusted me to figure it out without spoon feeding me backstory and I think he did that well.
As I said, the middle dragged a lot. I agree that it would take time for Linus to come to the conclusions he forms by the end of the story, but it felt like this was dragged out for the sake of developing the ‘cuteness’ of the children. Maybe fewer wards or a protagonist not quite as rigid would have accomplished this. My attention wavered with how long the transformation took with this cast.
Linus’s beliefs are challenged many times on Marsyas Island. He faces down stereotypes, prejudice, and love in ways he’s never seen them before. His disbelief, fear, and acceptance are portrayed well in this novel. It’s a process that doesn’t happen overnight and he fights his way through to real change. Linus’s journey is one that is hard and many folks won’t have the chance to have similar growth. It’s a shame because the world is made so much better when this growth happens.
Writer’s Takeaway: It can be hard to see when a story is dragging. I think there weren’t enough points of tension in the middle of the story. However, Linus was being steadily developed so the plot was progressing, even though it also felt like nothing was happening because of the lack of tension. It’s a hard balance, but noting points of conflict and tension can help a writer realize when there’s a lull in the story.
This book missed on a few things for me so I’m sorry to say I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought. Three out of Five Stars.
There’s no definitive year this book is set in, but given the existence of computers but not cell phones, it feels safe to use it to fulfill the 1980-1999 time period of the 2026 When Are You Reading? Challenge.
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Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
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Currently reading: I’ve kept moving through A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin but it feels like I’m never going to get to the end. This is a long one! I got my hold of The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah back and managed to read a chapter which feels great! I don’t know if I’ll consistently find time to read this again, but I’ll be optimistic that I will so I can keep at it. I started back up with Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery. I’m not fully committed yet since I’m not seeing much of a plot. So far it’s a lot of back story and character, but nothing is really happening. It’s a short one so I’ll press on.
Recently finished: I was able to finish The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune as expected. I didn’t love this one, if I’m being honest. I think it was a bit too slow for me. It reminded me of other books I’ve read, some of which I liked more than others. The ending was good, but I think it took too long to get there. For now, I’m giving it Three out of Five Stars. We’ll see if I change my mind when I write the review.
Reading next: I’ll be headed to the library’s used bookstore today to find a book for my trip. I’m excited to see what I find!
Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
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